Side door construction for railway cars



Aug. 22, 1933. e. G. GILPIN SIDE DOOR CONSTRUCTION FOR RAILWAY CARS 2Shets-Sheet 1 Filed NOV. 19, 1928 1120212 for 1933. s. G. GILPIN SIDEDOOR CONSTRUCTION FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Nov. 19 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Aug. 22

Patented Aug. 22, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFF lCE.

SIDE DOOR CONSTRUCTION FOR RAILWAY CARS Application November 19, 1928Serial No. 320,341

18 Claims.

The invention relates to a double door construction for railway box orhouse cars, particularly cars for carrying automobiles, aeroplanes andsimilar freight.

5 The A. R. A. standard box car has a side door opening six feet inwidth but as it is impossible to load certain classes of lading, such asautomobiles, aeroplanes, fire engines, automotive trucks and the likethrough such a space, larger openings (usually about ten or twelve feetin width) are provided in some cars, which are called automobile cars,although they may be used on some occasions to haul other kinds oflading. A single door large enough to cover such an opening would be toolarge and heavy to move easily or to support and retain on the car and,therefore, supplemental doors slidably mounted like the main doors haveheretofore been provided to cooperate with the main door in closing theenlarged opening.

The primary object of this invention is to provide an arrangement of amain door, a sup plemental door and one or more auxiliary doors for arailway car having a relatively large door opening wherein the main andsupplemental doors function in the usual manner but wherein auxiliarydoors are swingably supported and so related to the wall structure ofthe car that when they are closed they form structurally andfunctionally a part of the car wall in a manner and to an extent quiteimpossible in the case of a sliding door.

Another object is to provide a double door structure of the kindindicated in which the swinging or hinged doors are so constructed andarranged that it is possible to use the present common types of main andsupplemental sliding doors.

Another object is to provide means whereby such a swingable door cannotbe moved from its position as an integrated part of the wall structureuntil the main door (and/or supplemental door) has been opened. That is,a swingable door cannot be used as a door independently of D the maindoor.

Another object is to provide a slidable door (which moves in a singlevertical plane) with a post swingably attached to one margin thereof andarranged to swing within the door opening when the door is in closedposition and to swing outside of the door opening to provide clearancefor the opening movement of the slidable door beyond the door post, andto preferably provide means to lock such a post to the car body, whenthe door is in closed position. Frequently a pair of slidable doors arearranged to move toward each other to partially close the door openingand an object of the invention is to hingedly support such a post at themeeting edge of one of such doors so that it cannot be swung out of itsnormal position until the other slidable door is moved.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows a side elevation of a portion of a car with my improvedside door construction.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on line 3--3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on line 4-4 of 7.0 Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged horizontal section of the auxiliary door andassociated parts.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross section of the meeting edges of the main andsupplemental doors.

Fig. 7 shows the locking mechanism for the auxiliary door. The usualparts of the car are shown, such as side plate 1; side sill 2; flooring3; sheathing 4; lintel 5; roof 6; fascia 7 and door posts 8.

For convenience of description I have used the terms main door (9);supplemental door (10) and auxiliary door (11).

The maximum horizontal width of the door opening, that is, the distancebetween the oppositely disposed vertical door posts 8 is preferablypositioned equally on opposite sides of the center line of the car sothat the door openings on the opposite sides of the car'will register.

The auxiliary doors 11 (or one auxiliary door" if desired) are hinged tothe door posts 8 by the hinges 12 and are provided with a lip 13engaging a recess 14 in the door post 8 for weatherproofing and theinner edge of the auxiliary door is provided with a lip 15 forengagement with the weather strip 16 on the main and supplemental doors,respectively, which also restricts the forward or closing movement ofthe slidable door. The auxiliary door 11 is provided with a lockingmeans comprising an upper bar 1'? and a lower bar 18 actuated by acentrally pivoted lever 19 which lever may be provided with an operatinghandle if desired. Upon movement of this lever the bars engage ordisengage pockets 21-22 in, thesill and plate, respectively. Guides 23may be necessary to keep the bars in place. The lever 19 may bepositioned normal to the car, as shown at 24, 01 lengthwise of the'car,as shown at 25. This locking mechanism for the auxiliary doorispreferably positioned within the door itself, as illustrated, so as toprotect it and so as not to interfere with the movement of the slidabledoors. However, it may be positioned on the outside wall thereof ifdesirable.

The main door 9, as shown, is of the usual construction and comprisesupper and lower rails 3031 and front and back battens 3233 formingstiffeners for the margins of a corrugated metallic plate 34. The upperstiffener 30 interacts with the door hood 35 to form a weatherproofconstruction and the lower stiffener 31 forms a tread to engage theroller 36 supported by the bracket 3'7 which is mounted upon the sidesill 2. The rear stiffener 33 engages the auxiliary door 11, asheretofore described, while the front stiifener 32 engages a lip 38 onthe supplemental door, as shown in Fig. 6.

The supplemental door is similar in construction to the main door 9 andis supported in a similar manner. A post 40 is swingably attached to theinner margin of the supplemental door and arranged to swing within thedoor opening of the car when the door is in closed position and to swingoutside of the door opening, as shown in Fig. 2, to provide clearancefor the opening movement of the supplemental door as it passes theauxiliary door 11 and door post 8. This swingable post is provided withmeans to automatically lock it within the door opening, which meanscomprises a vertically moving locking bar 41 riding upon an inclinedsurface 4243 adjacent the sill and plate, respectively, and so ar rangedthat after a predetermined amount of travel, portions 44-45 of theoperating rod drop into depressions adjacent the sill and plate,respectively, all as indicated in Figs. 4 and 7. The swingable post ispreferably U-shaped and has one arm 48 swingably attached to the innermargin of the supplemental door and the automatic locking means ispreferably positioned within the U-shape of the post so as to protectit.

To open the door the main door 9 must be slid or rolled to complete openposition, i. e., beyond the adjacent auxiliary door 11. Then the post 40is unlatched and swung outside of the door opening, as shown in dottedlines in Fig. 2, when it is possible to slide or roll the supplementaldoor into complete open position beyond the auxiliary door 11. The post4G cannot be swung until the main door is partially moved. When the mainand/or supplemental doors are in full open position one or both of theauxiliary doors may be swung open. In practice the main door would besix feet in width and the supplemental door four feet in width, giving aten foot door opening, and with the auxiliary doors being each about twofeet in width, an opening of twelve or even fourteen feet is ob tained.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of theinvention, though it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as itis obvious that various modifications thereof within the scope of theclaims will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In a railway car having a door opening, the combination of anauxiliary door hinged at each vertical side of the opening, and a pairof slidable doors arranged to move toward each other to close theremainder of the opening, each of said auxiliary doors provided withmeans to restrict the movement of the adjacent slidable door toward theother slidable door.

2. In a railway car having a door opening, the combination of anauxiliary door hinged at each vertical side of the opening, and a pairof slidable doors arranged to move toward each other to close theremainder of the opening, each of said auxiliary doors provided withmeans to restrict the movement of the adjacent slidable door, toward theother slidable door, one of said slidable doors having a post swingablyattached to its inner margin so as to swing within the door opening whensaid door is in closed position and to swing outside of the opening toprovide clearance for the opening movement of said door beyond theauxiliary door, said elements so arranged that the post cannot swing outof normal position until the other slidable door has been moved.

3. In a railway car having a door opening, a swingable door supported atone side thereof, and a slidable door positioned to move in the path ofthe swingable door and arranged to retain the swingable door insubstantially a closed position until said slidable door is in acomplete open position.

4. In a railway car having a door opening, a swingable door supported atone side thereof, and a slidable door positioned to move in the path ofthe swingable door and arranged to re tain the swingable door insubstantially a closed position until said slidable door is in acomplete open position, said swingable door provided with a lip whichengages the slidable door and restricts its forward movement.

5. In a railway car having a door opening, a swingable door supported atone side thereof, and a slidable door positioned to move in the path ofthe swingable door and arranged to retain the swingable door insubstantially a closed position until said slidable door is in acomplete open position, said swingable door provided with means to lookit in closed position which are positioned within said swingable door soas not to interfere with the movement of the slidable door.

6. In a railway car having a door opening, a swingable door supported atone vertical side of said opening, and a slidable door arranged to passover said swingable door in moving from open to closed position, saidswingable door provided with means to lock said door in closed positionpositioned within said door so as not to interfere with the freemovement of the slidable door.

'7. In a railway car having a door opening, a swingable door supportedat one vertical side of said opening, and a slidable door arranged topass over said swingable door in moving from open to closed position,said swingable door provided with means to restrict the closing movementof the slidable door.

8. In a railway car having a door opening, the combination of anauxiliary door hinged at each vertical side of the opening to partiallyclose the opening, a pair of slidable doors arranged to move in avertical plane toward each other to close the remainder of the openingforming a weatherproofing joint with each other, and a post swingablyattached to the inner margin of one of said slidable doors arranged toswing within said opening when the door is in closed position and toswing outside of said opening to provide clearance for the openingmovement of the door.

9. In a railway car having a door opening, the combination of anauxiliary door hinged at each vertical side of the opening to partiallyclose the opening, a pair of slidable doors arranged to move in avertical plane toward each other to close the remainder of the openingforming a weatherproof joint with each other, a post swingably attachedto the inner margin of one of said slidable doors arranged to swingwithin said opening when the door is in closed position and to swingoutside of said opening to provide clear ance for the opening movementof the door, and means to lock said post to the car body when it iswithin the opening.

10. In a railway car having a door opening, the combination of anauxiliary door hinged at each vertical side of the opening to partiallyclose the opening, a pair of slidable doors arranged to move in avertical plane toward each other to close the remainder of the openingforming a weatherproof joint with each other, a U- shaped post havingone arm swingably attached to the inner margin of one of said slidabledoors arranged to swing within said opening when the door is in closedposition and to swing outside of said opening to provide clearance forthe opening movement of the door, and means positioned within saidU-shaped post to lock said post to the car body when it is within theopening.

11. In a railway car having a door opening, a pair of slidable doorsarranged to move in a vertical plane toward each other to close theopening, and a post swingably attached to the inner margin of one ofsaid slidable doors arranged to swing within said opening when the dooris in closed position and to swing outside of said opening to provideclearance for the opening movement of the door.

12. In a railway car having a door opening, a pair of slidable doorsarranged to move in a vertical plane toward each other to close theopening, and a post swingably attached to the inner margin of one ofsaid slidable doors, said elements so arranged that the post cannot beswung out of normal position until the other of said doors has beenmoved.

13. In a railway car having a door opening, a pair of slidable doorsarranged to move in a vertical plane toward each other to close theopening, and a post swingably attached to the inner margin of one ofsaid slidable doors arranged to swing within said opening when the dooris in closed position and to swing outside of said opening to provideclearance for the opening movement of the door, said elements soarranged that the post cannot be swung out of normal position until theother of said doors has been moved.

14. In a railway car having a door opening, the combination of anauxiliary door hinged at each vertical side of the door opening topartially close the opening, a pair of slidable doors arranged to movein a vertical plane toward each other to close the remainder of theopening, and a lock to secure the meeting edges of the slidable doorstogether, each slidable door partially overlying its adjacent hingeddoor when in closed position whereby the single lock locks all fourdoors in closed position.

15. In a railway car having a door opening, a pair of slidable doorsarranged to move in a vertical plane toward each other to close theopening, a post swingably attached to the inner margin of one of saidslidable doors arranged to swing within said opening when the door is inclosed position and to swing outside of said opening to provideclearance for the opening movement of the door, and means positionedwithin said post to lock said post to the car body when it is within theopening.

16. In a railway car having a door opening, the combination of aslidable door, and a post having a channel section swingably attached tosaid door.

17. In a railway car having a door opening, the combination of aslidable door, a post swingably attached to said door, and locking meanscarried by the post and engageable with pockets in the upper and lowermargins of the door opening to hold said post and door in closedposition.

18. In a railway car having a door opening, the combination of aslidable door, a post having a channel section swingably attached tosaid door, and locking means carried by the post within the channelsections and engageable with pockets in the upper and lower margins ofthe door opening to hold said post and door in closed position.

GARTH G. GILPIN.

